a year of prayer: 365 Rosaries

Today, we celebrate the feast of Divine Mercy, remembering on the Octave of Easter, the mercy of the Lord. Proclaimed by Pope John Paul II (who is also celebrating beatification today), at the canonization Mass of Saint Faustina, this day “from now on throughout the Church this Sunday will be called Divine Mercy Sunday.”


Prior to her canonization, Pope John Paul II had actively promoted the message of Saint Faustina, regarding the Divine Mercy of Jesus. Saint Faustina had recorded in her diary the specific devotion to Jesus, given to her by the Lord. She stated that anyone who participates in Mass and receives both the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist on Divine Mercy Sunday, is assured by Jesus of the full remission of their sins. In his encyclical on the Mercy of the Lord, Pope John Paul II developed and explained a spiritual and doctrinal basis for our faith in the mercy of God. By linking the revealed truth about God’s mercy to one of the most solemn Sundays after Easter itself, he illumined the fact that the liturgy already proclaimed the divine mercy. The truth has been embedded for two millennia in the worship of the Church.



Today, during Mass, we sing from Psalm 118, “His mercy endures forever.” In the Gospel of John we remember that gift of “Peace” given to the disciples by the Risen Christ, showing the marks of His suffering and Passion, and demonstrating the saving grace and mercy of His death and resurrection. They, like ourselves, are filled with joy as He provides to the disciples the power of God’s mercy for the sinner, the gift and sacrament we know as Reconciliation: “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Cardinal Justin Rigali of Saint Louis noted regarding Reconciliation, “This beautiful Sacrament was presented to the Church by Christ himself on the day of his Resurrection, hence this Sacrament of Mercy is supremely relevant also in this Easter season.”

As we gather around the table of the Mass, we realize that Divine Mercy Sunday (while possibly given a new name) is not a new feast established to celebrate Saint Faustina's revelations. Indeed, it is not primarily about Saint Faustina at all — nor is it altogether a new feast! This solemn Mass recovers an ancient liturgical tradition, reflected in a teaching attributed to Saint Augustine of Hippo about the Easter Octave, which he called "the days of mercy and pardon," and the Octave Day itself "the compendium of the days of mercy."

We may doubt like Thomas. We may struggle and fall. But we can remain confident in the Divine Mercy of the Lord, given to us in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, and present in the sacraments. We need only look to the Eucharist for a vivid reminder of Our Lord’s unending mercy and love, both during the Easter season and throughout the year.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a time of repentance, penance, and conversion. We are reminded of the powerful sacrifice Jesus made for each of us, through the mercy of our Heavenly Father. Lent calls us to seek out that gracious mercy from the Lord, sincerely repenting and praying for forgiveness. Below, an excerpt from a homily by early Church father, Saint Clement of Rome, entitled “Repentance: An Opportunity for God’s Mercy.”



Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world.


If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him. When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved. Jonah told the Ninevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they repented, their prayers gained God’s forgiveness for their sins, and they were saved, even though they were not of God’s people.


Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the ministers of God’s grace have spoken of repentance; indeed, the Master of the whole universe himself spoke of repentance with an oath: As I live, says the Lord, I do not wish the death of the sinner but his repentance. He added this evidence of his goodness: House of Israel, repent of your wickedness. Tell the sons of my people: If their sins should reach from earth to heaven, if they are brighter than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, you need only turn to me with your whole heart and say, “Father”, and I will listen to you as a holy people.


In other words, God wanted all his beloved ones to have the opportunity to repent and he confirmed this desire by his own almighty will. That is why we should obey his sovereign and glorious will and prayerfully entreat his mercy and kindness. We should be suppliant before him and turn to his compassion, rejecting empty works and quarrelling and jealousy which only lead to death.


Brothers, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger. Rather, we should act in accordance with the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit says: The wise man must not glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just. Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and forbearance. Be merciful, he said, so that you may have mercy shown to you. Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. As you treat others, so you will be treated. As you give, so you will receive. As you judge, so you will be judged. As you are kind to others, so you will be treated kindly. The measure of your giving will be the measure of your receiving.


Let these commandments and precepts strengthen us to live in humble obedience to his sacred words. As Scripture asks: Whom shall I look upon with favour except the humble, peaceful man who trembles at my words?


Sharing then in the heritage of so many vast and glorious achievements, let us hasten toward the goal of peace, set before us from the beginning. Let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Father and Creator of the whole universe, and hold fast to his splendid and transcendent gifts of peace and all his blessings.

Today, October 14, we celebrate the feast of Saint Callistus I (died 223), Pope, Defender of the Holy Trinity, and Martyr of the Church. As the sixteenth pope, his most important acts were to decree that grave sinners and lapsed Christians – those who folded in the face of martyrdom – were to be allowed to return to Communion after having repented and performed penance. He also decreed that, contrary to Roman law, there were no barriers to marriage between different social classes, and that where Church law and civil law clash, Church law takes precedence. While little is recorded about him in Church records—and those that survive were written by a sworn enemy—many scholars view Pope Saint Callistus I as one of the greatest popes in early Church history.


Callistus was born to a Christian slave owned by Carpophorus, a Christian in the household of Caesar in second-century Rome. He was placed in charge of a Christian bank which went broke after many of the citizens monies were loaned to failed to pay them back. Knowing that he would suffer blame for the bank’s failure, Callistus fled the city, but was caught and returned to his owner. While he wasn’t a thief, he was still sentenced to the treadmill, then later to the tin mines where he slaved many years. Eventually, along with other Christians, he was later ransomed and returned to Rome, becoming a free man. Pope Saint Zephyrinus selected Callistus to oversee the Roman public burial grounds in Rome, today known as the Cemetery of Saint Callistus. He was eventually made a deacon, and then elevated to archdeacon. In this role, Callistus was responsible for the administration of the Church's property, the oversight of clergy, and organization of the burial of martyrs in the catacombs on the Apian Way. During his time, the Church began to build churches, which though destroyed during the various persecutions, were eventually rebuilt.

Eighteen years after having his freedom purchased, Callistus succeeded Zephyrinus as pontiff, the sixteenth pope. As pope he regulated the discipline of the sacrament of penance, ruling that penitent sinners were welcome in church. He defended the faith against the Adoptionist and Modalist heresies regarding the Holy Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ. Regarding forgiveness of sinners, Pope Callistus, more aligned with the sentiments of Jesus, saw the Church as a place for continuously reclaiming the repentant sinner. He was, on more than one occasion, accused of heresy—especially in regards to his proclamations regarding penance and Communion, and marriage across economic classes. His leadership of the Church put him in conflict with Roman civil law, but he stated that in matters concerning the Church and the sacraments, Church law always trumped civil law. While he had many critics, Pope Saint Callistus I taught what the Church has taught for centuries, including today.

Pope Saint Callistus I is held to have initiated a practice in the Church known as Ember (meaning four times per year) Days, to bring down blessings on each season of the year. Within the liturgical year, the Church designated a group of three days which were set aside for fast and abstinence. This observation occurred four times during the course of the liturgical year. The practice, which was observed for centuries, has since faded.

During the pontificate of Saint Callistus, the reign of Alexander Severus began, who actively engaged in persecution of Christians. Callistus was forced to take shelter in the poor quarters of Rome, hiding from authorities. Calipodius, a priest who would be martyred, appeared to him, saying: “Father, take courage; the hour of the reward is approaching; your crown will be proportionate to your sufferings.” Soon afterwards Callistus was discovered, and the house in which he was hiding was guarded by soldiers who received the order to allow no food to enter it for days. After this initial starvation, Saint Callistus was martyred. With a rock suspended from his neck, he was thrown from a window into a well in 223. His body was recovered by the faithful, and he is entombed in a cemetery along the Via Aurelia.

While we do not know much of Pope Saint Callistus I, it is clear that he embraced the teachings of Christ, was generous and forgiving in dealing with sinners, believed in the principles of copious redemption, and espoused the still-held Church teachings that mercy restores to love. His writings—especially encouraging letters—remain, encouraging us today to look to Christ for instruction in the ways we treat others; to not judge based upon past deeds; to forgive and be merciful as the Lord forgives and is merciful.



God of mercy,
hear the prayers of Your people
that we may be helped by St. Callistus,
whose martyrdom we celebrate with joy.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever . Amen.




The First Epistle of Pope Saint Callistus I:


Callistus, archbishop of the Church Catholic in the city of Rome, to Benedictus, our brother and bishop, greeting in the Lord.


By the love of the brotherhood we are bound, and by our apostolic rule we are constrained, to give answer to the inquiries of the brethren, according to what the Lord has given us, and to furnish them with the authority of the seal of the apostles.


I. Fasting, which ye have learned to hold three times in the year among us, we decree now to take place, as more suitable, in four seasons; so that even as the year revolves through four seasons, we too may keep a solemn fast quarterly in the four seasons of the year. And as we are replenished with corn, and wine, and oil for the nourishment of our bodies, so let us be replenished with fasting for the nourishment of our souls, in accordance with the word of the prophet Zechariah, who says,


"The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I repented not; so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. These are the things that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor; judge the truth and the judgment of peace in your gates; and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord of hosts. And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of the Lord joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; only love the truth and peace, saith the Lord of hosts."


In this, then, we ought to be all of one mind, so that, according to apostolic teaching, we may all say the same thing, and that there be no divisions among us. Let us then be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment; in ready zeal for which work we congratulate ourselves on having your affection as our partner. For it is not meet for the members to be at variance with the head; but, according to the testimony of sacred Scripture, all the members should follow the head. It is matter of doubt, moreover, to no one, that the church of the apostles is the mother of all the churches, from whose ordinances it is not right that you should deviate to any extent. And as the Son of God came to do the Father's will, so shall ye fulfill the will of your mother, which is the Church, the head of which, as has been stated already, is the church of Rome. Wherefore, whatsoever may be done against the discipline of this church, without the decision of justice, cannot on any account be permitted to be held valid.


II. Moreover, let no one take up an accusation against a doctor (teacher), because it is not right for sons to find fault with fathers, nor for slaves to wound their masters. Now, all those whom they instruct are sons of doctors; and as sons ought to love their fathers after the flesh, so ought they to love their spiritual fathers. For he does not live rightly who does not believe rightly, or who reprehends fathers, or calumniates them. Doctors therefore, who are also called fathers, are rather to be borne with than reprehended, unless they err from the true faith. Let no one, consequently, accuse a doctor by writing (per scripta); neither let him answer to any accuser, unless he be one who is trustworthy and recognized by law, and who leads also a life and conversation free from reproach. For it is a thing unworthy that a doctor should reply to a foolish and ignorant person, and one who leads a reprehensible life, according to the man's folly; as Scripture says, Answer not a fool according to his folly. He does not live rightly who does not believe rightly. He means nothing evil who is faithful. If anyone is faithful (a believer), let him see to it that he make no false allegations, nor lay a snare for any man. The faithful man acts always in faith; and the unfaithful man plots cunningly, and strives to work the ruin of those who are faithful, and who live in piety and righteousness, because like seeks like. The unfaithful man is one dead in the living body. And on the other hand, the discourse of the man of faith guards the life of his hearers. For as the Catholic doctor, and especially the priest of the Lord, ought to be involved in no error, so ought he to be wronged by no machination or passion. Holy Scripture indeed says, Go not after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine appetites; and we must resist many allurements of this world, and many vanities, in order that the integrity of a true continence may be obtained, whereof the first blemish is pride, the beginning of transgression and the origin of sin; for the mind with lustful will knows neither to abstain nor to give itself to piety. No good man has an enemy except in the wicked, who are permitted to be such only in order that the good man may be corrected or exercised through their means. Whatever, therefore, is faultless is defended by the Church Catholic. Neither for prince, nor for any one who observes piety, is it lawful to venture anything contrary to the divine injunctions. Consequently an unjust judgment, or an unjust decision (diffinitio), instituted or enforced by judges under the fear or by the command of a prince, or any bishop or person of influence, cannot be valid. The religious man ought not to hold it enough merely to refrain from entering into the enmities of others, or increasing them by evil speech, unless he also make it his study to extinguish them by good speech. Better is a humble confession in evil deeds, than a proud boasting in good deeds. Moreover, all who live the blessed life, choose rather to run that course in the proper estate of peace and righteousness, than to involve themselves in the avenging pains of our sins. For I am mindful that I preside over the Church under the name of him whose confession was honored by our Lord Jesus Christ, and whose faith ever destroys all errors. And I understand that I am not at liberty to act otherwise than to expend all my efforts on that cause in which the well-being of the universal Church is at stake (infestatur). I hope, too, that the mercy of God will so favor us, that, with the help of His clemency, every deadly disease may be removed, God Himself expelling it, and that whatever may be done wholesomely, under His inspiration and help, may be accomplished to the praise of thy faith and devotion. For all things cannot otherwise be safe, unless, as far as pertains to the service of the divine office, sacerdotal authority upholds them. Given on the 21st day of November in the consulship of the most illustrious Antoninus and Alexander.



Year 2: Day 287 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Forgiveness; Mercy; Acceptance of all.

Today, we celebrate the feast of Divine Mercy, remembering on the Octave of Easter, the mercy of the Lord. Proclaimed by Pope John Paul II (who is also celebrating beatification today), at the canonization Mass of Saint Faustina, this day “from now on throughout the Church this Sunday will be called Divine Mercy Sunday.”


Prior to her canonization, Pope John Paul II had actively promoted the message of Saint Faustina, regarding the Divine Mercy of Jesus. Saint Faustina had recorded in her diary the specific devotion to Jesus, given to her by the Lord. She stated that anyone who participates in Mass and receives both the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist on Divine Mercy Sunday, is assured by Jesus of the full remission of their sins. In his encyclical on the Mercy of the Lord, Pope John Paul II developed and explained a spiritual and doctrinal basis for our faith in the mercy of God. By linking the revealed truth about God’s mercy to one of the most solemn Sundays after Easter itself, he illumined the fact that the liturgy already proclaimed the divine mercy. The truth has been embedded for two millennia in the worship of the Church.



Today, during Mass, we sing from Psalm 118, “His mercy endures forever.” In the Gospel of John we remember that gift of “Peace” given to the disciples by the Risen Christ, showing the marks of His suffering and Passion, and demonstrating the saving grace and mercy of His death and resurrection. They, like ourselves, are filled with joy as He provides to the disciples the power of God’s mercy for the sinner, the gift and sacrament we know as Reconciliation: “Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” Cardinal Justin Rigali of Saint Louis noted regarding Reconciliation, “This beautiful Sacrament was presented to the Church by Christ himself on the day of his Resurrection, hence this Sacrament of Mercy is supremely relevant also in this Easter season.”

As we gather around the table of the Mass, we realize that Divine Mercy Sunday (while possibly given a new name) is not a new feast established to celebrate Saint Faustina's revelations. Indeed, it is not primarily about Saint Faustina at all — nor is it altogether a new feast! This solemn Mass recovers an ancient liturgical tradition, reflected in a teaching attributed to Saint Augustine of Hippo about the Easter Octave, which he called "the days of mercy and pardon," and the Octave Day itself "the compendium of the days of mercy."

We may doubt like Thomas. We may struggle and fall. But we can remain confident in the Divine Mercy of the Lord, given to us in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ, and present in the sacraments. We need only look to the Eucharist for a vivid reminder of Our Lord’s unending mercy and love, both during the Easter season and throughout the year.


Year 2: Day 122 of 365

Prayer Intentions: The Divine Mercy of Jesus
Requested Intentions: For children’s faith journey; Recovery of a friend suffering from addiction (M); Successful employment (P); Obedience to the will of the Lord (J); Financial recovery (S); Freedom from evil influence (I); Recovery from illness (J); Freedom from addiction (J); Successful transplant surgery (K); Healing for a daughter (T); Acceptance into school (V); Successful immigration; for a sister’s career and marriage (F); Financial recovery; Successful ministry (A); Financial ability to send children to school (S); Safe return of a runaway (J); Healing of a family (J); Reconciliation of marriage (S); Healing of a daughter with congenital heart disease (F); Healing and an end to suffering (J); For the children (M); For a son fighting a rare immune system disease (R); Freedom from imprisonment (J); Employment and end to depression (H); Successful employment (A); Health for a soon to be delivered baby (T); Financial security (L); Healing of tooth pain (A); Health of expectant mother and child (R); Purification of the souls in Purgatory (A); Guidance in studies (J); Healing and security for a displaced family (C); Healing of high blood pressure; Recovery of brother following surgery (A); For a sister in trouble, that she may make better decisions in the light of Christ (M); Health of expectant mother and child (R); Attainment of funds for surgery (J).

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a time of repentance, penance, and conversion. We are reminded of the powerful sacrifice Jesus made for each of us, through the mercy of our Heavenly Father. Lent calls us to seek out that gracious mercy from the Lord, sincerely repenting and praying for forgiveness. Below, an excerpt from a homily by early Church father, Saint Clement of Rome, entitled “Repentance: An Opportunity for God’s Mercy.”



Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognize how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world.


If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him. When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved. Jonah told the Ninevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they repented, their prayers gained God’s forgiveness for their sins, and they were saved, even though they were not of God’s people.


Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the ministers of God’s grace have spoken of repentance; indeed, the Master of the whole universe himself spoke of repentance with an oath: As I live, says the Lord, I do not wish the death of the sinner but his repentance. He added this evidence of his goodness: House of Israel, repent of your wickedness. Tell the sons of my people: If their sins should reach from earth to heaven, if they are brighter than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, you need only turn to me with your whole heart and say, “Father”, and I will listen to you as a holy people.


In other words, God wanted all his beloved ones to have the opportunity to repent and he confirmed this desire by his own almighty will. That is why we should obey his sovereign and glorious will and prayerfully entreat his mercy and kindness. We should be suppliant before him and turn to his compassion, rejecting empty works and quarrelling and jealousy which only lead to death.


Brothers, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger. Rather, we should act in accordance with the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit says: The wise man must not glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just. Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and forbearance. Be merciful, he said, so that you may have mercy shown to you. Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. As you treat others, so you will be treated. As you give, so you will receive. As you judge, so you will be judged. As you are kind to others, so you will be treated kindly. The measure of your giving will be the measure of your receiving.


Let these commandments and precepts strengthen us to live in humble obedience to his sacred words. As Scripture asks: Whom shall I look upon with favour except the humble, peaceful man who trembles at my words?


Sharing then in the heritage of so many vast and glorious achievements, let us hasten toward the goal of peace, set before us from the beginning. Let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Father and Creator of the whole universe, and hold fast to his splendid and transcendent gifts of peace and all his blessings.

Today, October 14, we celebrate the feast of Saint Callistus I (died 223), Pope, Defender of the Holy Trinity, and Martyr of the Church. As the sixteenth pope, his most important acts were to decree that grave sinners and lapsed Christians – those who folded in the face of martyrdom – were to be allowed to return to Communion after having repented and performed penance. He also decreed that, contrary to Roman law, there were no barriers to marriage between different social classes, and that where Church law and civil law clash, Church law takes precedence. While little is recorded about him in Church records—and those that survive were written by a sworn enemy—many scholars view Pope Saint Callistus I as one of the greatest popes in early Church history.


Callistus was born to a Christian slave owned by Carpophorus, a Christian in the household of Caesar in second-century Rome. He was placed in charge of a Christian bank which went broke after many of the citizens monies were loaned to failed to pay them back. Knowing that he would suffer blame for the bank’s failure, Callistus fled the city, but was caught and returned to his owner. While he wasn’t a thief, he was still sentenced to the treadmill, then later to the tin mines where he slaved many years. Eventually, along with other Christians, he was later ransomed and returned to Rome, becoming a free man. Pope Saint Zephyrinus selected Callistus to oversee the Roman public burial grounds in Rome, today known as the Cemetery of Saint Callistus. He was eventually made a deacon, and then elevated to archdeacon. In this role, Callistus was responsible for the administration of the Church's property, the oversight of clergy, and organization of the burial of martyrs in the catacombs on the Apian Way. During his time, the Church began to build churches, which though destroyed during the various persecutions, were eventually rebuilt.

Eighteen years after having his freedom purchased, Callistus succeeded Zephyrinus as pontiff, the sixteenth pope. As pope he regulated the discipline of the sacrament of penance, ruling that penitent sinners were welcome in church. He defended the faith against the Adoptionist and Modalist heresies regarding the Holy Trinity and the Person of Jesus Christ. Regarding forgiveness of sinners, Pope Callistus, more aligned with the sentiments of Jesus, saw the Church as a place for continuously reclaiming the repentant sinner. He was, on more than one occasion, accused of heresy—especially in regards to his proclamations regarding penance and Communion, and marriage across economic classes. His leadership of the Church put him in conflict with Roman civil law, but he stated that in matters concerning the Church and the sacraments, Church law always trumped civil law. While he had many critics, Pope Saint Callistus I taught what the Church has taught for centuries, including today.

Pope Saint Callistus I is held to have initiated a practice in the Church known as Ember (meaning four times per year) Days, to bring down blessings on each season of the year. Within the liturgical year, the Church designated a group of three days which were set aside for fast and abstinence. This observation occurred four times during the course of the liturgical year. The practice, which was observed for centuries, has since faded.

During the pontificate of Saint Callistus, the reign of Alexander Severus began, who actively engaged in persecution of Christians. Callistus was forced to take shelter in the poor quarters of Rome, hiding from authorities. Calipodius, a priest who would be martyred, appeared to him, saying: “Father, take courage; the hour of the reward is approaching; your crown will be proportionate to your sufferings.” Soon afterwards Callistus was discovered, and the house in which he was hiding was guarded by soldiers who received the order to allow no food to enter it for days. After this initial starvation, Saint Callistus was martyred. With a rock suspended from his neck, he was thrown from a window into a well in 223. His body was recovered by the faithful, and he is entombed in a cemetery along the Via Aurelia.

While we do not know much of Pope Saint Callistus I, it is clear that he embraced the teachings of Christ, was generous and forgiving in dealing with sinners, believed in the principles of copious redemption, and espoused the still-held Church teachings that mercy restores to love. His writings—especially encouraging letters—remain, encouraging us today to look to Christ for instruction in the ways we treat others; to not judge based upon past deeds; to forgive and be merciful as the Lord forgives and is merciful.



God of mercy,
hear the prayers of Your people
that we may be helped by St. Callistus,
whose martyrdom we celebrate with joy.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son,
who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever . Amen.




The First Epistle of Pope Saint Callistus I:


Callistus, archbishop of the Church Catholic in the city of Rome, to Benedictus, our brother and bishop, greeting in the Lord.


By the love of the brotherhood we are bound, and by our apostolic rule we are constrained, to give answer to the inquiries of the brethren, according to what the Lord has given us, and to furnish them with the authority of the seal of the apostles.


I. Fasting, which ye have learned to hold three times in the year among us, we decree now to take place, as more suitable, in four seasons; so that even as the year revolves through four seasons, we too may keep a solemn fast quarterly in the four seasons of the year. And as we are replenished with corn, and wine, and oil for the nourishment of our bodies, so let us be replenished with fasting for the nourishment of our souls, in accordance with the word of the prophet Zechariah, who says,


"The word of the Lord came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I repented not; so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah: fear ye not. These are the things that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor; judge the truth and the judgment of peace in your gates; and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord of hosts. And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of the Lord joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; only love the truth and peace, saith the Lord of hosts."


In this, then, we ought to be all of one mind, so that, according to apostolic teaching, we may all say the same thing, and that there be no divisions among us. Let us then be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment; in ready zeal for which work we congratulate ourselves on having your affection as our partner. For it is not meet for the members to be at variance with the head; but, according to the testimony of sacred Scripture, all the members should follow the head. It is matter of doubt, moreover, to no one, that the church of the apostles is the mother of all the churches, from whose ordinances it is not right that you should deviate to any extent. And as the Son of God came to do the Father's will, so shall ye fulfill the will of your mother, which is the Church, the head of which, as has been stated already, is the church of Rome. Wherefore, whatsoever may be done against the discipline of this church, without the decision of justice, cannot on any account be permitted to be held valid.


II. Moreover, let no one take up an accusation against a doctor (teacher), because it is not right for sons to find fault with fathers, nor for slaves to wound their masters. Now, all those whom they instruct are sons of doctors; and as sons ought to love their fathers after the flesh, so ought they to love their spiritual fathers. For he does not live rightly who does not believe rightly, or who reprehends fathers, or calumniates them. Doctors therefore, who are also called fathers, are rather to be borne with than reprehended, unless they err from the true faith. Let no one, consequently, accuse a doctor by writing (per scripta); neither let him answer to any accuser, unless he be one who is trustworthy and recognized by law, and who leads also a life and conversation free from reproach. For it is a thing unworthy that a doctor should reply to a foolish and ignorant person, and one who leads a reprehensible life, according to the man's folly; as Scripture says, Answer not a fool according to his folly. He does not live rightly who does not believe rightly. He means nothing evil who is faithful. If anyone is faithful (a believer), let him see to it that he make no false allegations, nor lay a snare for any man. The faithful man acts always in faith; and the unfaithful man plots cunningly, and strives to work the ruin of those who are faithful, and who live in piety and righteousness, because like seeks like. The unfaithful man is one dead in the living body. And on the other hand, the discourse of the man of faith guards the life of his hearers. For as the Catholic doctor, and especially the priest of the Lord, ought to be involved in no error, so ought he to be wronged by no machination or passion. Holy Scripture indeed says, Go not after thy lusts, but refrain thyself from thine appetites; and we must resist many allurements of this world, and many vanities, in order that the integrity of a true continence may be obtained, whereof the first blemish is pride, the beginning of transgression and the origin of sin; for the mind with lustful will knows neither to abstain nor to give itself to piety. No good man has an enemy except in the wicked, who are permitted to be such only in order that the good man may be corrected or exercised through their means. Whatever, therefore, is faultless is defended by the Church Catholic. Neither for prince, nor for any one who observes piety, is it lawful to venture anything contrary to the divine injunctions. Consequently an unjust judgment, or an unjust decision (diffinitio), instituted or enforced by judges under the fear or by the command of a prince, or any bishop or person of influence, cannot be valid. The religious man ought not to hold it enough merely to refrain from entering into the enmities of others, or increasing them by evil speech, unless he also make it his study to extinguish them by good speech. Better is a humble confession in evil deeds, than a proud boasting in good deeds. Moreover, all who live the blessed life, choose rather to run that course in the proper estate of peace and righteousness, than to involve themselves in the avenging pains of our sins. For I am mindful that I preside over the Church under the name of him whose confession was honored by our Lord Jesus Christ, and whose faith ever destroys all errors. And I understand that I am not at liberty to act otherwise than to expend all my efforts on that cause in which the well-being of the universal Church is at stake (infestatur). I hope, too, that the mercy of God will so favor us, that, with the help of His clemency, every deadly disease may be removed, God Himself expelling it, and that whatever may be done wholesomely, under His inspiration and help, may be accomplished to the praise of thy faith and devotion. For all things cannot otherwise be safe, unless, as far as pertains to the service of the divine office, sacerdotal authority upholds them. Given on the 21st day of November in the consulship of the most illustrious Antoninus and Alexander.



Day 287 of 365
Prayer Intentions: Forgiveness; Mercy; Acceptance of all.
Requested Intentions: Employment (P); For family’s prosperity and employment (M); For a husband’s addiction (F); Health in a relationship, literary representation (D); For a mother struggling with cancer (P); Employment and financial assistance (L); End to work troubles, return to health (R); For a husband’s recovery from alcoholism (M); For a pregnant sister in the ICU (J); For a family’s safety, health, and successful education (S); Successful employment and relationship (E); Reconciliation with a friend, sanctity of a relationship (G); Increase in Rosary prayers by youth and students (S); Successful outcome of court case and employment (L); For guidance and righteous love (K); Restoration of a relationship (H); For successful employment (I); For a daughter’s successful relationship (M); For a relationship sanctified by God (M); For health of father; For canonization of Pope John Paul II (A); Those suffering from depression (J); Successful adoption (S); Healing of a father battling cancer (S).

Today, September 3, we celebrate the feast day of Pope Saint Gregory the Great (540-604), one of the most prominent figures in Church history, and along with Saints Augustine, Ambrose and Jerome, one of the four key Doctors of the Western Church. Pope Saint Gregory enacted significant Church reforms, and wrote prolifically from a theological and spiritual position (as opposed to a doctrinal position) about the Holy Spirit, the Gospels, and the faith of the Church. Referred to as “Great” due to his sanctity and his works, Pope Saint Gregory I inspires us to live moral, righteous lives, balanced in thought, word, and deed.


Below, the reflections of Saint Gregory on the extraordinary mercy of the Lord, revealed in the sufferings of Christ—and our call, as children of God, to make that mercy known to others.



Holy Job is a type of the Church. At one time he speaks for the body, at another for the head. As he speaks of its members he is suddenly caught up to speak in the name of their head. So it is here, where he says: I have suffered this without sin on my hands, for my prayer to God was pure.


Christ suffered without sin on his hands, for he committed no sin and deceit was not found on his lips. Yet he suffered the pain of the cross for our redemption. His prayer to God was pure, his alone out of all mankind, for in the midst of his suffering he prayed for his persecutors: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.


Is it possible to offer, or even to imagine, a purer kind of prayer than that which shows mercy to one’s torturers by making intercession for them? It was thanks to this kind of prayer that the frenzied persecutors who shed the blood of our Redeemer drank it afterward in faith and proclaimed him to be the Son of God.


The text goes on fittingly to speak of Christ’s blood: Earth, do not cover over my blood, do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. When man sinned, God had said: Earth you are, and to earth you will return. Earth does not cover over the blood of our Redeemer, for every sinner, as he drinks the blood that is the price of his redemption, offers praise and thanksgiving, and to the best of his power makes that blood known to all around him.


Earth has not hidden away his blood, for holy Church has preached in every corner of the world the mystery of its redemption.


Notice what follows: Do not let my cry find a hiding place in you. The blood that is drunk, the blood of redemption, is itself the cry of our Redeemer. Paul speaks of the sprinkled blood that calls out more eloquently than Abel’s. Of Abel’s blood Scripture had written: The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the earth. The blood of Jesus calls out more eloquently than Abel’s, for the blood of Abel asked for the death of Cain, the fratricide, while the blood of the Lord has asked for, and obtained, life for his persecutors.


If the sacrament of the Lord’s passion is to work its effect in us, we must imitate what we receive and proclaim to mankind what we revere. The cry of the Lord finds a hiding place in us if our lips fail to speak of this, though our hearts believe in it. So that his cry may not lie concealed in us it remains for us all, each in his own measure, to make known to those around us the mystery of our new life in Christ.

O noblest Queen of the world, Mary ever Virgin, who didst bring forth Christ the Lord, the Savior of all, pray in our name for mercy, peace, and salvation.




Today, we celebrate the feast of Mary, Mother of Mercy. After the fall, man became subject to sin, misery, disease and death. God, Who is rich in mercy, gave us two persons filled with compassion and mercy: Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, and Mary, Our Blessed Mother. Jesus became like one of us, choosing to know the profoundest depths of sorrow. Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, became the loving Mother of mankind beneath the Cross. From her witness of the mercy of the cross, she is full of compassionate mercy. Let us entreat her help to ease the suffering of mankind, through her mercy as the Mother of God. As Saint Alphonsus Liguori wrote, “Mary is not only called the Mother of Mercy, she is the Mother of Mercy. And she proved that she is by the loving tenderness with which she helps us all.”


From Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, “Rich in Mercy:”

“These words of the Church at Easter re-echo in the fullness of their prophetic content the words that Mary uttered during her visit to Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah: "His mercy is...from generation to generation.” At the very moment of the Incarnation, these words open up a new perspective of salvation history. After the resurrection of Christ, this perspective is new on both the historical and the eschatological level. From that time onwards there is a succession of new generations of individuals in the immense human family, in ever-increasing dimensions; there is also a succession of new generations of the People of God, marked with the Sign of the Cross and of the resurrection and "sealed" with the sign of the Paschal Mystery of Christ, the absolute revelation of the mercy that Mary proclaimed on the threshold of her kinswoman's house: "His mercy is...from generation to generation."


Mary is also the one who obtained mercy in a particular and exceptional way, as no other person has. At the same time, still in an exceptional way, she made possible with the sacrifice of her heart her own sharing in revealing God's mercy. This sacrifice is intimately linked with the cross of her Son, at the foot of which she was to stand on Calvary. Her sacrifice is a unique sharing in the revelation of mercy, that is, a sharing in the absolute fidelity of God to His own love, to the covenant that He willed from eternity and that He entered into in time with man, with the people, with humanity; it is a sharing in that revelation that was definitively fulfilled through the cross. No one has experienced, to the same degree as the Mother of the crucified One, the mystery of the cross, the overwhelming encounter of divine transcendent justice with love: that "kiss" given by mercy to justice. No one has received into his heart, as much as Mary did, that mystery, that truly divine dimension of the redemption effected on Calvary by means of the death of the Son, together with the sacrifice of her maternal heart, together with her definitive "fiat."


Mary, then, is the one who has the deepest knowledge of the mystery of God's mercy. She knows its price, she knows how great it is. In this sense, we call her the Mother of mercy: our Lady of mercy, or Mother of divine mercy; in each one of these titles there is a deep theological meaning, for they express the special preparation of her soul, of her whole personality, so that she was able to perceive, through the complex events, first of Israel, then of every individual and of the whole of humanity, that mercy of which "from generation to generation" people become sharers according to the eternal design of the most Holy Trinity.


The above titles which we attribute to the Mother of God speak of her principally, however, as the Mother of the crucified and risen One; as the One who, having obtained mercy in an exceptional way, in an equally exceptional way "merits" that mercy throughout her earthly life and, particularly, at the foot of the cross of her Son; and finally as the one who, through her hidden and at the same time incomparable sharing in the messianic mission of her Son, was called in a special way to bring close to people that love which He had come to reveal: the love that finds its most concrete expression vis-à-vis the suffering, the poor, those deprived of their own freedom, the blind, the oppressed and sinners, just as Christ spoke of them in the words of the prophecy of Isaiah, first in the synagogue at Nazareth and then in response to the question of the messengers of John the Baptist.


It was precisely this "merciful" love, which is manifested above all in contact with moral and physical evil, that the heart of her who was the Mother of the crucified and risen One shared in singularly and exceptionally - that Mary shared in. In her and through her, this love continues to be revealed in the history of the Church and of humanity. This revelation is especially fruitful because in the Mother of God it is based upon the unique tact of her maternal heart, on her particular sensitivity, on her particular fitness to reach all those who most easily accept the merciful love of a mother. This is one of the great life-giving mysteries of Christianity, a mystery intimately connected with the mystery of the Incarnation.


‘The motherhood of Mary in the order of grace,’ as the Second Vatican Council explains, ‘lasts without interruption from the consent which she faithfully gave at the annunciation and which she sustained without hesitation under the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. In fact, being assumed into heaven she has not laid aside this office of salvation but by her manifold intercession she continues to obtain for us the graces of eternal salvation. By her maternal charity, she takes care of the brethren of her Son who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties, until they are led into their blessed home.’”


Mary wants us to think of her as our mother, our Heavenly Mother. Mary, the Blessed Virgin, appeared to Saint Faustina, a mystic who encountered Our Blessed Mother repeatedly throughout her life. In her diary, Saint Faustina wrote: “Once, the confessor told me to pray for his intention, and I began a novena to the Mother of God. This novena consisted in the prayer "Hail, Holy Queen" recited nine times. Toward the end of the novena I saw the Mother of God with the Infant Jesus in her arms. ... I could not stop wondering at His beauty. ... I heard a few of the words that the Mother of God spoke. ... The words were: ‘I am not only the Queen of Heaven, but also the Mother of Mercy, and your Mother’” On another occasion, Our Blessed Mother said to Saint Faustina: "Out of the depths of God's Mercy, I am your Mother.”

Similarly, Our Lady spoke to Saint Bridget of Sweden, whose feast day we celebrated just this week: " I am the Queen of Heaven and the Mother of Mercy; I am the joy of the just, and the door through which sinners are brought to God."

In short, the reason we rightfully call Mary our "Mother of Mercy" is that by God's grace, He created her soul to be the masterpiece of His Mercy in the world. That is, this special gift of grace within her was the foundation of His whole work of mercy in the world—namely the birth, life, Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Everything about Mary was fashioned by Divine Mercy and for the work of Divine Mercy. No other creature, therefore, so completely manifests God's mercy as does Mary, immaculately conceived, Our Blessed Mother.



Prayer of Mary, Mother of Mercy (written by Saint Augustine of Hippo):

Blessed Virgin Mary, who can worthily repay you with praise and thanks for having rescued a fallen world by your generous consent! Receive our gratitude, and by your prayers obtain the pardon of our sins. Take our prayers into the sanctuary of heaven and enable them to make our peace with God.


Holy Mary, help the miserable, strengthen the discouraged, comfort the sorrowful, pray for your people, plead for the clergy, intercede for all women consecrated to God. May all who venerate you feel now your help and protection. Be ready to help us when we pray, and bring back to us the answers to our prayers. Make it your continual concern to pray for the people of God, for you were blessed by God and were made worthy to bear the Redeemer of the world, who lives and reigns forever. Amen.